Nautica.2011.Beijing/Hong Kong.private guides

[DonSherman]

I am planning the March 2011 cruise from Beijing- where my son & daughter in law live- to Hong Kong. I would appreciate information on the ports of Seoul, Shanghai,Hiroshima, Kyoto,Okinawa, and Taipei. I am particcularly interested in private guides, as I will be traveling with another couple, and we hired private guides when we took Oceania from Hong Kong to Bangkok, via Vietnam, and found great private guides. I strongly recommend the German company Diethelm, who have English speaking guides in many cities of Asia. Private tours - for 4 people-quite inexpensive in 2008. They mainly cater to Europeans, but use English as the common language in many cases. They even scheduled tours on different days than their usual schedule, just for the 4 of us.

 

Any info from those who have done this trip before would be appreciated.

[Aruba]

You might also try the threads in the cruisecritic boards under "Ports of Call" for information about those ports.

[daniel603]

Hi,

My husband and I are also taking the Nautica from Beijing to Hong Kong! Have you any data on the sea conditions in March? I'd like to know if rough seas are to be expected - or it is generally calm. Any info you have would be appreciated :)

Cathy

[RetiredFL]

We took the cruise in March.

We did several days before the cruise in Beijing and Xian. We used Beijing Travel Service and they did an excellent job.

Our weather was, to put it bluntly, cold until we reached Japan. In Seoul we had snow and it was so cold many people did not get off the tour bus. By the time we got to Hong Kong it was in the 70s. The water, however was pretty smooth.

We did private tours in Beijing/Xian, Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong(where we also stayed a few days).

However we were never able to find private tours in Korea or Japan. We were told there was no such industry there. We did find one web site of a tour guide who was only a guide and you had to provide your own vehicle.

We found the Oceania ships tours very good but expensive, especially in Japan but then everything is expensive there.

One word of caution on private tours in China and China in general. The Chinese authorities are very capricious.

We had early boarding in the port of Beijing but got there about 2pm. No one had been allowed to board as yet. We sat until 4pm when they decided we could board. Suites boarded at 4pm, priority at 4:05 and the rest at 4:10. At 5pm they closed boarding and those who arrived after that time has to sit several hours until the authorities decided to let them on. (We could see them down on the pier sitting on their luggage.)

We booked this cruise to have two full days in Shanghai and arranged a two day private guide. The evening of the first day the captain came over the loudspeaker and announced the authorities had decided that we had to sail at 1pm on the second day so we had to scramble to change our tour arrangements. The concierge was a great help and called our tour company in Beijing and they were able to get a message to our guide in Shanghai.

We enjoyed the cruise and would go again but it is not a Mediterranean cruise and you have to be able to roll with the punches to enjoy it.

[Cheesi]

In addition to the ports of call board, you might try www.fodors.com/forums and click on their "Asia" board. You can registerfor free and post just like here as well as do searchs. I find that forum to be extremely helpful in planning trips also.

[Acrusa]

We are also booked on this cruise for 2011. Staying 3 nights at Oceania hotel Shang ra la.Stayed there 10 yrs ago had a good expierence.

We are taking the ships tour in Kyoto. We are there 2 days so doing both tours they offer form ship.Is that what most people did?